Australian Building Materials Market Research
A first-phase market and commercial analysis of Australian building materials, landscaping and renovation demand, with a focus on Victoria and southeast Melbourne.
- Organisation
- Buildmart Australia
- Role
- Market Research Intern
- Period
- Jul 2026 – Present
- Status
- Phase 1 Completed
Project Overview
This project examined the external markets relevant to Buildmart, separating nominal sales growth from real demand and connecting consumer market trends with Victoria’s residential construction pipeline and local demand patterns around Glen Waverley.
The first phase focused on desk research, data interpretation and competitor benchmarking. It was designed to establish an evidence base before developing product, growth or implementation recommendations.
Research Questions
- Which external markets best represent Buildmart’s product range?
- How did relevant consumer markets change between 2015 and 2025?
- Did the 2022–2023 decline reflect nominal sales or real demand?
- What do approvals, commencements and work done indicate about Victoria’s construction cycle?
- How does demand differ across southeast Melbourne locations?
- Which channel and service capabilities are visible among local competitors?
Research Approach
- Market Definition
- Data Collection
- Price-adjusted Trend Analysis
- Construction Pipeline Analysis
- Local Market Segmentation
- Competitor Benchmarking
Selected Analysis
Real Demand vs Nominal Growth
Current-price data includes the effects of inflation, product mix and volume changes. Constant 2025 price data provides a clearer indication of changes in real market size.
The analysis found that nominal sales figures made market performance appear stronger than underlying demand during parts of 2022–2023.
Price-adjusted analysis showed that market recovery differed significantly across categories, and the broad Home & Garden category did not represent all Buildmart-related markets equally well.
Victoria Construction Cycle
Approvals indicate the future project pipeline, commencements represent projects entering construction, and work done reflects current construction activity. These indicators operate at different stages of the cycle.
These indicators measure different stages of the construction cycle and are presented as indexed directional comparisons.
Current construction activity remained relatively strong, while approvals and commencements indicated a weaker flow of new projects.
Local Demand Geography
New-build concentration
Casey
3,624 dwelling approvals
42% of approvals across the selected eight LGAs
Renovation concentration
Boroondara
AUD 295 million
45% of alterations and additions value across the selected eight LGAs
New construction and renovation demand were concentrated in different locations, meaning that a single southeast Melbourne market definition would hide meaningful geographic differences.
Key Findings
Buildmart operates across several overlapping markets rather than one single Home & Garden category.
Price effects made nominal market performance appear stronger than underlying demand during parts of 2022–2023.
Victoria’s current construction activity was stronger than the future pipeline indicated by approvals and commencements.
New-build and renovation demand had different geographic centres across southeast and eastern Melbourne.
External market data alone cannot determine Buildmart’s product-level profitability, customer contribution or growth priorities.
Tools & Methods
- Euromonitor
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Excel
- PivotTables
- Market Research
- Price-adjusted Analysis
- Construction Pipeline Analysis
- Local Market Segmentation
- Competitor Benchmarking
Limitations & Next Steps
The first phase relied primarily on external market, construction and competitor data.
Internal sales, margin, customer, inventory, quote and delivery data would be required before making product, growth or implementation recommendations.
A subsequent phase could connect the external market findings with internal commercial performance and operational evidence.
Portfolio Disclosure
Selected and anonymised analysis is shown for portfolio purposes. No confidential company data or complete internal reports are published.